Lawyers Should Be Aware Of Eulerian Video Magnification

Most people have probably not seen this fascinating TED talk on Eulerian Video Magnfication, since it currently boasts only approximately 600,000 views. However, everyone should watch it, or at least read one of the articles about it written by the New York Times Blog or Huffington Post.  In short, this technology, developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, magnifies subtle movements and color changes in humans and objects.

For example, as explained by Dr. William Freeman in the above-referenced TED talk, the technology can detect the changes in someone’s skin color as a result of blood being pumped under the skin, which allows someone to actually see someone else’s pulse.

Dr. Freeman cites baby monitors as a potential application for the technology.  Videos played during his talk show that the technology magnifies normally visually undetectable breathing motions in infants so that parents can actually see the infant breathing. At first glance, this technology might not have tremendous impact on the legal field considering the fact that we rarely have the opportunity to view events at issue in real time. However, the technology does not require watching an event through a special lens.  Dr. Freeman explains in his speech that one can upload a video and the technology can amplify subtle movements, color changes, et cetera. in the underlying video itself.

So, is there a new market for lie detecting experts armed with Eulerian Video Magnification to analyze pulse changes and other “tells” during recorded video testimony?  Can the technology be used to magnify subtle changes in a structure prior to its collapse to identify exact point that the structure began to give way?

In this author’s opinion, lawyers have the opportunity to do incredible things with this technology.